Intense travel 'no excuse' for Sharks

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Cape Town - Sharks coach Gary Gold will not use his side's hectic Super Rugby travel schedule as an excuse for poor performances.

The Sharks departed for Buenos Aires on Wednesday morning just four days after beating the Hurricanes 32-15 in Durban.

Before that, they had spent three straight weeks in New Zealand where they were able to register a single win against the defending champion Highlanders.

After taking on the Jaguares on Saturday, the Sharks will then return to Durban for a clash against the lowly Kings before finally enjoying a bye week in the final round of fixtures before the international break.

It has been a testing period for the Sharks, and they could surely have benefited more from a bye at some stage in the middle of all of the travel in recent weeks, but Gold was firm this week that he would not be using his side's schedule as an excuse.

"We’ve chosen that there are certainly no excuses here," said Gold.

"The
schedule is what it is. It’s been good to have a couple of days training in
Durban.

"I think we’ll be okay. We’ll be good shape going into this weekend. I
think the challenge is going to be when we come back and how we look after
ourselves. The guys are in good spirits."

Gold said that playing in a different city for each of his side's three weeks in New Zealand had primed his side for the rigors of constant travel.

"It’s not too
dissimilar to when we were in New Zealand because we traveled on our off days," said Gold.

"It’s fine. We deal with it as we have to."

The Sharks are expected to name their team for the Jaguares clash later on Thursday.